Before He Was President, Donald Trump Wanted New Tax on Americans with Over $10M

In her bid to tax the wealthiest Americans to fund a Green New Deal, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) might’ve found an unlikely ally in a fellow New Yorker: Donald Trump.

Not President Donald Trump, of course. He’s the architect of a major tax cut that was a great boon to the richest Americans. But the Donald Trump who was leading the Reform Party in a Presidential bid in 2000.

“By imposing a one-time 14.25 percent net-worth tax on the richest individuals and trusts, we can put America on sound financial footing for the next century,” Trump wrote in his 2000 book The America We Deserve. “The plan would cost me $700 million personally in the short term, but it would be worth it.”

The scale was much smaller than Ocasio-Cortez’s plan to increase the marginal tax rate, but it was aiming at solving what was (at the time) a smaller problem, and one he was comfortable hanging his political hat on: the national debt. He was following in the footsteps of Ross Perot in this particular tack and did so with signature gusto.

“When was the last time you heard a major politician warning of economic downturn? It’s just not in the vocabulary of any public figure. Except mine,” Trump said at the time.

And now, concern over the national debt is on almost everyone’s lips except Trump’s.

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